HEDGEHOGS

THE HEDGEHOG’S LAST STAND?We appear to have lost around 30% of the population since 2002. Source:www.hedgehogstreet.org​In May 2017 FLEWG ran a Hedgehog Awareness Week. Hedgehog Day kept recurring throughout the week! but sadly hedgehogs will not recur unless we all do something about it.

Malcolm Shirley sets the scene.In the late 70’s and early 80’s our rather ramshackle garden in the centre of Freshford seemed to be teeming with wildlife – frogs, toads, slow worms, every sort of bird, many of them nesting – and hedgehogs, who were regular visitors. As we developed our garden we were careful to retain copious borders and hedges as well as nesting boxes and wild areas to encourage the wildlife to stay, but it seemed gradually to dwindle, along with the worrying national trends. Despite evidence of passing trade from foxes, we hadn’t seen a hedgehog in the garden for 15 or 20 years, and feared that the gradual development of the village meant that we had seen the last of them. But recently late at night, there was a fine adult hedgehog, in the middle of our lawn! And three days later, he (or she – I couldn’t tell) - was back again. A near neighbour also found one (the same, perhaps) sniffing at their front door.As well as being delightful to see a hedgehog again, it is a really heartening sign, and shows that all our efforts to retain welcoming habitats and encourage wildlife are worthwhile. We can all do our bit to help reduce the many threats to all our precious - and useful – wild friends.

FLEWG co-ordinated Hedgehog Awareness events in May.At Freshford Primary School Dr Ben Williams of Reading University explained his hedgehog study relating to gardens. Hedgehogs often need to roam from 1-2 km each night looking for food (worms, beetles, slugs, and caterpillars) and mates. During autumn they relentlessly forage for the food they need as fat for hibernation in cold months when their staple diet is scarce. ACCESS WAYS FOR HEDGEHOGS TO ROAM ARE THEREFORE CRITICAL. ( CD size 120mm diameter holes required in fences, walls or under gates). Ben has made a survey of over 200 gardens in Reading. Provisional results showed that 33% of the gardens get hedgehogs at some time, chances improved to 40% with a compost heap or rotting wood for worms and beetles. Good hedgehog access including ramps to raised planters increase chances to 45%.Dangers include: strimming where hedgehogs lie up in long grass during the day, ponds and swimming pools need steps or a strip of wire mesh netting, plastic fruit netting ensnares their feet so keep it a little off the ground. Use a beer trap and NEVER slug pellets. Avoid chemicals if possible. Hedgehogs will help you clear slugs! Do not approach young hedgehogs. Mothers could eat them as a survival tactic to go breed in a safer area.

Meanwhile The preschool coloured hedgehog face masks and pretended to be hedgehogs. Why not likewise crawl around your garden to assess if you have good hedgehog access?

The Brownie pack looked at a selection of hibernation boxes for Hedgehogs, bats and dormice these being the only 3 British mammals which hibernate. (Search on line for hibernation boxes you can buy or build and also simple autumn feeding stations.) They also studied information from www.mammal.org.uk to conduct interviews between finger puppets animals they had made themselves. Prickly questions were acted out e.g. “why do you curl up in a prickly ball?”. Politicians might have appreciated that option when recently questioned on their manifesto arithmetic.

Finally habitat loss is a very big threat. The change from pastoral farming to arable crops, and increasing field size with the removal of hedgerows, plus the use of chemicals for intensive farming, kills the creatures hedgehogs need for food and may also poison them directly. Many are also killed on the roads. Please then ensure hedgehogs have good access ways on your plot. Our gardens might well be the best shot hedgehogs now have for survival!